Jeitos de corpo: cor/raça, gênero, sexualidade e sociabilidade juvenil no centro de São Paulo

In this article, we discuss the results of ethnographic research undertaken in areas with concentrated recreational venues frequented by diverse youth groups (homo- and heterosexual) in the Historic Downtown of Sao Paulo. This material is part of the larger "Relationships between race, gender and sexuality in different national and local contexts" research initiative. We consider how markers of difference associated with color/race, class, gender and sexuality operate not only to classify the young men and women who engage in erotic sociability in the places we investigated - producing (un)desirable subjects and indicating affective-sexual preferences - but also work to order patterns of social interaction. We reflect on what ways and under what conditions differences (which can, of course, inform and construct hierarchical and discriminatory relationships) are employed by certain subjects in specific relational fields, given certain social trajectories.